Clairvoyant
by moriartysfallenangels
Summary: After Catherine Frey loses her whole world, she must adjust to a new one while finding out hidden secrets about herself that she never knew. With Merlin by her side, she will prove to be more than she, or anyone else ever thought she would be.
1. Prologue

The sun was slightly warming my skin on my walk home from Camelot. The wind would blow every few minutes to ensure I didn't overheat, which made the weather quite pleasant. The path was lined with bright green grass and purple flowers beautifully contrasting the green. The path never failed to be lovely during the spring and the walk that my mother had forced me take was a little less miserable because of it. I had gone to Camelot because my brother had a fever, and I was finally old enough to run errands from our little village about two miles from the city. So that meant I went out of the village whenever my mother required it. While in Camelot, I was to acquire medicines from an apothecary she knew inside the walled city. He was a kind, old man. His home was drowning in herbs and flasks containing more medicines than even imaginable. I didn't even know what half of them were for. He insisted I take his medicine for free, which shocked me, but he said he had known my mother long ago so I accepted them. It wasn't a miserable time, and the entire time I was in the city I had a strange feeling of belonging. However, I constantly felt as if someone was watching me.

About a mile out from my village, the light began to fade from the sky, leaving a swirling array of colors as it left. Then the stars appeared in the darkness with the moon by their side, helping me finish my last stretch home, about half a mile.

When I finally did arrive home, everything was three times too bright for night. My village was consumed in shades of orange and yellow. It was burning. The smell of burning wood and grass and… another sick, unfamiliar smell poisoned the air and made it hard to breathe. Women and children ran from the fires while the men battled both the fires and the other men on horses. They appeared to be bandits. I was safe in the cover of the trees, but I needed to help them in some way. No one had spotted me yet, so I pulled out my dagger. The dagger my father gave me for protection that perfectly fit in my palm no matter how I held it. Its handle was a dark brown leather and blade had a swirled engraving in it that I had never been able to translate. He never told me what it meant before he died.

Focus.

I looked straight at a man who was keeping watch in the trees. He wasn't the only one there. There were several men in the trees surrounding the clearing the village was in. They seemed to be prepared to slaughter anyone who tried to escape. The bushes would cover me so that I could get right behind him and attack him. I slowly crept until I was close enough to smell a slight odor emanating from the shaggy man ready to kill innocent people. Ready to kill my people. I constantly reminded myself that the man was evil and what he was doing was wrong. I flipped the dagger in my hand so that the blade was facing up; it would make slicing his throat easier and he wouldn't call out to the others to alert them of my presence.

I lunged at him and slid my knife across his jugular in a fluid motion, according to my plan. No one noticed as he fell to the ground choking on his own blood, gasping for life. A metallic smell filled my lungs and redness covered my hands. I had killed a man. Blood pumped in my ears and my head felt cold. As I saw the people dead in the road and those running from men with swords only one thought filled my mind: _where is my family?_

Something came over me and I jumped out from my cover of the bushes and ran towards the homes on fire and the screaming people. Men shouted at me and to each other, but what they said didn't matter. I had forgotten my family and they could be dead. The road was difficult to follow, but I found my way to my house at the other side of the village. It was completely burned to the ground. I stepped through the rubble, the rest of the commotion a blur and completely silent. In the rubble it felt like I saw-

A man's cough brought my eyes away from the home I had grown up in, the house I spent my entire life in. "Hello, love." His smile was disgusting, looking at it sent a shiver down my spine. I looked away and then matched his perverse look with a dark glare. I sent him all of my rage and pain. Men circled around me until I was completely surrounded. But for some reason, I wasn't afraid. The coldness in my head grew worse and my blood pumped to where the screams were nonexistent. Men shouted at me, but I only saw their lips move. Spots clouded vision. Then everything went black.


	2. Chapter 1

_The fuzzy noise of children's laughter slowly became clear as the memory snapped into place. It was the clearest dream I had ever had; I could feel everything. Cold air that slightly bit my skin as it breezed past. I could smell the trees, the grass, and the smell of dinner being cooked over the fire. Smoke billowed in several places around the village where the families were warming their homes. The children's laughter grew louder as they and my brother, Cai, ran towards my hiding place in a tall tree on the edge of the village. It was a beautiful oak that cast a large shadow across the field behind my home._

 _The kids always wanted me to play with them and that afternoon I told them I would. As they approached where I was hiding, I climbed to a more covered part in the tree so they wouldn't discover where I was. The goal of the game was simply to find me, because I was great at hiding in our limited area. They never looked in the right places, and I would win. It would get boring so I would make it a bit easier and give myself away. Maybe jump down and scare one of them or throw rocks to distract them so I would run._

" _Where are you?" a few would shout at me. The woods were scary to them and they were afraid to venture in there, but they always expected me to take cover in the trees. Some would dare to check in the woods and they would rustle through the bushes and call out to me saying, "Hello?"_

 _Hello?_ A voice in my mind pulled me from my dream. It was comforting and prevented me from panicking as I woke from my dream. Then it called out again, _Is there anyone out there?_

I was disoriented, but I managed to reply, _Yes. I'm over here._ I was suddenly able to feel my body and shooting pain went up from my toes to the top of my head. Never mind the strange voice that infiltrated my mind, everything hurt and throbbed and I felt very alone. I peeled open my eyes to the new, white hot world I was in and felt nothing but sorrow. The physical pain couldn't compare to the pain I felt inside of me. It rushed around my body like the feeling of lightning striking every inch of me. Panic flooded through me at the thought of my family being gone. Seeing the lifeless hand in the rubble replayed over and over in my head. The hand had life, but its life had been taken from it. Although it could have been another person in there, beneath my home. Here I was, trapped with them in the wreckage of my life.

My vision was blurry when opening my eyes but I saw a figure, not far away. He was running towards me and he was running fast. The figure had spotted me and it sent me into a panic to just get moving, go somewhere safe. Scrambling amongst the rubble didn't do much for me. My body was too weak to move on its own. I just managed to move some charred bits of wood around and make my limbs ache even more than they already did. Parts of my body were burned, but other than that, my body appeared to be fine. I was still in pain and lacking the energy to move.

"Hello?" The figure was at the edge of the burned home. I could clearly see it was a young man. Dark hair roughly covered the top of his head and his behavior was friendly. The clothes he wore weren't anything special so he wasn't a soldier, knight, or someone else I wouldn't appreciate. The way he presented himself was trusting and I could hardly move, so I responded with a moan. "Don't move. I'm coming to get you."

I never took my gaze off of him as things began to shift allowing him to make his way to me. When he did, he looked around where I was and was in shock. Astonishment filled his face and filled my stomach with dread, for reasons unknown to me. Forgetting I was at his feet, he was stuck on the area around me, that I was unable to see because I couldn't move my head. After a minute, I was able to mutter out a word to remind him of my presence, "What?"

"Oh… right," he responded. He leaned next to me, his face pale and hesitated for a second before putting his arms under me and lifting me off of the ground. It hurt, but it felt better than the planks of wood I had been resting on. He was kind of nervous holding me in his arms and they slightly shook under my weight. He made his way around the burned homes that I would pass by each day. They were burned to a crisp, destroyed, and they each had a small bit of smoke rising from them.

"They're all gone," I whispered in awe as we walked. He looked down at me and then clenched his jaw, obviously having something he wished to keep from me. "Who else survived?"

He looked down at me and gently said, "We haven't found anyone else." I was speechless. Possibly, I was the only survivor from the entire village. All of those kids and families that were living happy lives in a safe place were attacked and slaughtered. My mother and Cai… they had suffered the same fate. How did I survive?

"Merlin!" A man's voice shouted, interrupting my thoughts and bringing me back to the world of the living. "You found someone?"

The young man… Merlin... glanced down at me and then back up in the direction of the voice. He then yelled back, "I found her passed out in the bushes at the other side. We need to get her back to Gaius."

 _What?_ He lied. What was there to hide? I was laying in rubble, what was wrong with that?

The same voice from before replied inside my head, making me slightly jump, _I'll explain later. Let me get you to safety first and let me do the talking. Arthur might get suspicious._

 _Suspicious of what? Wait.. are you talking to me inside my head?_ I looked up at Merlin, who returned my questioning look with a slight smirk.

 _I'll explain that, too._


	3. Chapter 2

**That night… (Merlin's POV)**

Merlin always enjoyed the return trip to Camelot. It always meant he was going home and going back to a place where he knew he would be greeted with his favorite stew and a smiling Gaius. The warm thought would always occupy his mind on the trip back, every time without fail. However, as they returned back to Camelot with one more person than they departed with, Merlin couldn't help but wonder about her. He knew what he saw, he couldn't deny it. Back at the village, he had called out, sensing a present magic and a strong one, at that. He had hoped there were survivors, but several bodies had already been found just walking on the road. A small response, a weak "yes", resonated in his head and he walked over slowly to the direction the voice came from. He found her, surrounded by seven dead men who didn't seem to have injuries, and she was passed out. The men were definitely not from her village, which comforted him. That meant she was either defending someone or herself. When she didn't remember and didn't pick up on Merlin's cues, he was even more intrigued by the girl.

He hadn't learned her name yet, but he was going to find it out eventually. The girl had quickly passed out again in his arms right before he mounted his horse. Arthur just laughed at him trying to lift her up with him on his horse, of course. Her chestnut hair and soft features made her beautiful, but he hoped it was the same on the inside.

After a day's ride, Merlin, Arthur and the knights returned to a dark Camelot lit with night fires and moving flames of the night guards. Once they arrived to the castle, Merlin instantly went to Gaius with the girl in his arms, not bothering to wait for Arthur to bark orders at him, which he would probably pay for later. The girl slightly stirred in his arms when he lifted her off the horse, but for the most part she stayed asleep like she had the entire trip. After Gaius insisted the girl was completely fine, Merlin laid her down in his bed and she slightly stirred again but was still fast asleep.

* * *

 **The next morning… (Still Merlin's POV)**

Even though Merlin was forced to sleep on the hard floor, he slept very soundly. He dreamt of home and of Freya. The girl in his bed was a lot like her; She was small, but she was apparently powerful with a secret. Her secret that she wasn't even fully aware of having. Her soft features and dark hair brought back bittersweet memories of her, and he made it his goal to befriend the girl.

Of course by this time, Merlin was jostled awake by King Arthur, clad in a plain shirt and pants.

"Rise and shine," Arthur whispered loudly. "I need to talk to the girl."

"Why?" Merlin picked up on Arthur's hushed tone and matched it. He gathered his blankets and rolled them into a bundle quickly. The king was trying to decide what he was going to ask the girl still after a night's sleep.

"I need to know what happened that night." Arthur's expression darkened and he added, "And why she survived."

He understood Arthur's caution, similar to his own, but he couldn't approach him with his suspicions. The girl needed him-even hardly knowing each other-and telling Arthur that she had magic when she didn't even know herself would be harsh. It could also get her killed, and Merlin didn't want to see any more people killed for something they couldn't control.

"She needs to eat anyways," Merlin told him. "I'll go wake her up."

He put his blankets away in a cupboard and cautiously walked himself to his room. Holding his finger up to signal for Arthur to wait, he opened the door gently and shut it behind him. His gaze immediately went to the girl's face. She seemed peaceful, not like she had just lost her entire family. She was sound asleep. Black spirals sprawled from her head and covered his pillow, contrasting the white it laid against.

 _Wait what?_ He accidentally thought out to her. Her hand twitched and her seemingly peaceful expression evolved into a pained one. The thought hadn't woken her, but she had certainly heard it. Her magic existed without a doubt; he would have to be careful. But the chestnut hair he distinctly remembered was now replaced by a darker color. He was sure of it. Merlin was stuck at the door, transfixed by her power. Never had he heard of someone shifting and bending their features before. She was something new.

Walking over to the bed, Merlin's blood pounded in his ears hoping Arthur wouldn't notice when he came in. At her bedside, Merlin reached out and gently grabbed the girl's arm and said, "Good morning."

At his touch, the girl flinched and then immediately reacted. Merlin found himself being pulled over the bed, making a loud crash as he landed on the other side. She retaliated and jumped on top of him, pinning his shoulders to the ground. Shocked and slightly terrified, he looked up into her eyes.

They held the brilliant gold gleam of magic in them, a magic that she seemed to not be able to control. The emotion in them were unidentifiable. There was sadness and hatred, but she didn't seem to see him. After a few seconds staring at each other, the gold flickered away and vanished from her eyes and her strength gave out, the pain from her wounds returning to her. As she fell on top of him, Arthur burst into the room at the sound of the commotion.

"What on earth is going on in here?" He yelled, noticing the empty bed, the knocked over table and then the two on the floor. Merlin began to lift the girl off of him carefully while pained grimace covered her face.

"I scared her," Merlin said breathlessly. Then added, "It was my fault."

He lifted and placed the girl back in the bed, lessening the grimace slightly. Arthur approached the other side of her bed, facing Merlin and the girl both.

"Should I come back at another time?" He asked.

The girl blinked and opened her eyes, noticing the two standing next to her bed. She spoke to them for the first time, "Where am I?"

"You're in Camelot," Arthur stated gently. "You're safe."

"Where's… where's my family?" She looked sad, as if she knew the answer but was in denial. Arthur and Merlin exchanged a look.

"I'm sorry," Arthur started, and the girl hardened her look, braced for whatever was to come. "You were the only survivor from your village that we know of."

The girl didn't cry, she didn't look broken. She was emotionless, numb even, just staring at the ceiling. She cared so much that nothing escaped from her. Arthur looked to Merlin for help, not knowing whether to press for answers now or to wait.

"You'll be safe here," Merlin said with a comforting smile. "Gaius said you can stay as long as you want."

She didn't respond. She remained transfixed with the ceiling and an awkward silence filled the room at the absence of conversation. Arthur decided to go ahead and figure out what had transpired at her home.

"What do you remember from last night?" Arthur asked her, earning a glare from Merlin. It did break her gaze and she looked to the king.

"I remember fire," she slowly started. "I remember returning to my village and seeing it burning. I remember the screams and smell of the homes burning. I remember running from them and being surrounded. I remember…"

Merlin noticed a crack in the girl's stoic expression. She was trying to appear stronger than she was to the two of them, but Merlin knew better. There was something she remembered that really hurt, and Merlin wasn't about to make her relive the horrible moment. Arthur also surprisingly picked up on it and changed her course.

"We brought you back to Camelot after we found you," Arthur said. "I'll leave you with Merlin, now, he's going to take care you."

She didn't respond, she returned to her state of staring at the ceiling. Arthur nodded at Merlin and then left, leaving the girl and him alone. He immediately went to work, getting her food back in the main room and grabbing some medicines to ease her pain. Returning to his room, he immediately locked eyes with the girl, who was looking at him with a look he dreaded. She remembered the day before.

"I never got your name," Merlin subtly asked, hoping to dodge her questions.

"Catherine," she said without changing her expression. She saw right through him. "And you're Merlin."

"Yeah, I'm the king's servant," he said. She looked confused.

"Can you answer my questions now?" Merlin sighed. He would have to give the speech eventually. Might as well get it over with when he knew Arthur wouldn't interrupt.

"Where do you want to start?" He asked, sitting down on her bed.

"Why did you look so shocked when you found me?"

He wrestled with his thoughts for a minute, then said, "There were several men around you."

"Were they…" she swallowed then continued, "were they from my village?"

"No. They didn't die in the fire. They weren't stabbed and there were no wounds of any kind. Except-"

"Except…"

"Their necks were snapped."

"That's terrible. But why is this so shocking?"

"It looks like you did it, Catherine."

"What?"

"You have magic."


	4. Chapter 3

Rain pounded the window, every drop dripping down the window like the tears that wished to fall down my face. I was alone. All of my family was dead. The kids my brother played with, dead. The old lady that brought me her delicious bread once a month and asked for nothing in return, dead. They were all brutally murdered and I was the only survivor. I could have done something, helped a few escape before going all the way to my home first. I could have done so much more.

The bed I was laying on was too soft. I was used to sharing some hay, next to my brother. However, Merlin insisted I sleep on his bed for a couple days longer. It had already been three days. The boy had a screen that not many others could see, but somehow I picked up on it. He was hiding something. Kindness was his strongest trait, which I respected, but him thinking I had magic was crazy. I was no one, so why would I be gifted with magic?

Emotions left my body as the tears coming from my eyes became more and more scarce and what remained was a lonely shell of a girl who had lost everything. The rain slowly lulled me into another vivid dream.

 _I was in the forest, but it wasn't my body. I was able to see everything that was going on and feel what the person was feeling, but I was not in control. The person felt powerful and there was a fire running through their veins. The person was on a horse and the sound of other horses was audible around them. They looked back, gazing upon the hundreds of men that followed them, a flutter of excitement in their stomach. I could feel them smirk and then look to a man next to them._

" _How far from Camelot are we?" They said in a woman's voice. It was vile sounding and was dripping in hatred. The man looked a bit nervous as he tried to figure out the distance the army was away from the walled city._

" _About a day or so, Lady Morgana."_

" _Did the attacks on the outlying villages go successfully?"_

" _Uh-well…"_

" _What?" A rage began to flare inside the woman I was seeing through, Morgana so she was called._

" _After the first village, the men disappeared," he said shakily. "They're presumed dead."_

" _How many men did you send?!" Morgana yelled._

" _Around 20. I thought that would be enough."_

 _The fire in Morgana's veins intensified and her hand flew up. The man flew from his horse and into a tree off the side of the path. The fire subsided and she went on as if nothing had happened._

I woke up breathless and sat straight up in my bed. Gasping for breath, I realized what had just happened. It was only a dream. Footsteps slowly approached my door as I attempted to stop wheezing and to calm myself to no avail. Merlin opened it and rushed inside, checking if I was fine and noticed my state. Tears streamed down my cheeks against my will. I hated seeming weak to others, especially men, but I wasn't able to control it. A strange rattle accompanied my pain and I opened my burning eyes. The room was shaking, but as I noticed it, it stopped. Merlin looked me straight in the eyes in a way I could never explain. Admiration mixed with fear, but not of me. He sat down on the edge of my bed and respected my boundaries, but squeezed my hand as a friendly gesture. His presence was calming alone and my tears stopped flowing.

He broke the silence between us, "You have magic."

"You said that a few days ago."

"You don't believe me," he gently said with a smile. "I don't think the room was shaking on its own."

"How do I have magic? I'm no one," I asked.

"I'm going to tell you this now before anyone tells you otherwise," he said, gripping my hand a bit tighter. "Magic isn't a bad thing."

"Then why is it against the law?"

"Fear makes people do strange things," he said sadly, making me wonder about him more than myself for a change.

"Do you have magic?" I whispered to him.

He considered his answer for a minute, which somewhat answered the question on its own. He then decided to tell me, "Yes, I do." He was almost ashamed of it, so I laced his fingers with mine.

"Then we have a secret to share," I whispered to his silhouette, which was looking down at the ground next to the bed. He seemed to slightly smile at that, and then went back to being deep in thought. For several minutes we sat like that, his hand laced in mine in the silent dark.

Then he said, "What was your father's' name?"

Where this was going, I was unable to see but I still answered, "Edward Frey."

"That sounds eerily familiar," he said. "I forgot to tell you that Arthur wants to talk to you tomorrow and he was hoping you were well enough to walk."

"I am," I replied slightly annoyed.

"Be careful. Your powers are just now developing, so they can be kind of unpredictable."

I sighed. "Where is he wanting to meet?"

"He has a banquet this evening so he was hoping you wouldn't mind answering his questions during his training."

"Training?"

"He trains every morning with the knights."

"How is he going to talk to me while he aimlessly swings a sword about?"

"Don't ask me," he said laughing and we remained in silence for several minutes. He was wary of leaving me, and I didn't really want him to leave. He was the closest thing I had to family now, which was sad because I didn't know him extremely well. Breaking away my thoughts, Merlin asked, "What did you dream about? You called out my name."

"It was nothing," I blurted out a bit too quickly. He picked up on it and left me alone. Probably assuming that it was about what I remembered from a few nights ago. He squeezed my hand and let go, standing up from my bed.

"I understand. Goodnight, Catherine."

He walked away from my bed and to the door. I wanted to tell him but I was afraid he would think I was going insane. So I decided to ask him a simple question that wouldn't give away what I had dreamed.

"Who is Morgana?" I asked. Merlin turned around so fast I thought he might fall over. His kind, gentle look changed to one of fear. _Who was she?_

"An enemy of Camelot. A sorceress. What brought her up?"

"I heard some people come in the other day and they were talking about her," I smoothly replied. I was very proud at how natural it came. Merlin didn't seem to believe me, but he didn't push.

"Sleep well, Catherine," he said with a far off look. They had a history. That much was obvious.

 _So why did I dream about her?_


	5. Chapter 4

The castle of Camelot was really a sight to behold from the inside, as well as out, but it sure as hell was hard to navigate. I followed Merlin's directions, but it took ten minutes to finally find my way out when I took a wrong turn. Luckily, I didn't run into a servant or knight as they were all doing their duties for the morning. Embarrassment was kept to a minimum, for now.

The halls of the castle eventually opened up to the outdoors and I breathed in the crisp morning air for the first time in three days. It was cleared my head and washed the slight anxious feeling that rested in my stomach since earlier that morning. After a couple seconds at the top of the castle stairs, I made my way slowly down, attracting the attention of a few people in the square below. They pointed at me, probably wondering the business of a peasant in the castle that wasn't bustling about with their duties. I wondered the same.

I continued walking down a path to the left and instantly saw my target. The large field straight ahead had several men running around, the sun glinting off of them indicating that they were wearing armor. Taking a deep breath, I approached Merlin who was standing off to the side of the field looking slightly annoyed.

"Good morning, Catherine," he said with a smile, instantly losing his annoyed expression and looking to me. I returned his smile and he looked back out to Arthur who had just noticed my arrival. He didn't have to say anything for Arthur to begin to make his way over. Merlin's smile was replaced with a more serious expression as he quietly reminded me, "Remember to be careful, Catherine. He can't find out."

As Arthur joined Merlin and I and addressed me, the nervous gnawing in my stomach returned.

"Good morning, Catherine," Arthur greeted with a polite smile. "Are you feeling any better?"

"Very much so, thank you," I said shakily, but no one seemed to notice the tremble in my voice. Isn't wasn't Arthur himself that made me nervous, it was his status. I had never spoken to someone who had the power to chop off my head without lifting a finger. My recently discovered secret only made my nerves worse.

"I just have a couple more questions for you. I would have asked you at another time but at the banquet tonight they'll want to know everything," he said with a kind of tired expression. He looked to Merlin, then back at me, and decided to add, "If I tell you something, do you promise not to spread it around to the townspeople?"

I immediately responded, "Of course."

He continued, "I don't think the attack on your village was random." My eyebrows raised and I began to hear my blood pound in my ears. But I regained my composure and continued on the conversation without them realizing what had happened.

"Who would attack my village?"

"Camelot's greatest enemy: the sorceress known as Morgana, who also happens to be my sister," he said bitterly. The fake smile I had been keeping up dropped from my face against my will as the dream from last night before flooded through my memory. Perhaps it hadn't been a dream. _But then what did that mean?_

"Catherine?" Merlin asked, concerned at how my mind had gone a mile away. The king looked equally concerned, but also curious. Before he asked me the wrong questions, I fabricated a lie. Well, a partial lie.

"I saw her, at least I think I did," I said, the tremble in my voice much more noticeable, cueing a cringe inside of me. Merlin gave me a weird look, but Arthur didn't notice. He was too desperate for any information of Morgana that he immediately fell for it. I had to remind myself that it could save people. I could avenge my family, to get them justice. At that moment, I was determined to help Camelot and to help Arthur in any way I could for that reason.

When I didn't continue, Arthur grew impatient. "Go on," he said, curiosity peaked.

"She was terrible and wore a dress black as night, her hair just as dark." Arthur nodded, telling me I had the right woman. I continued, "Her wrath was more powerful than a storm but she was hardly involved. She had her men attack and burn the homes to the ground."

Arthur had another question he was refraining from asking while Merlin eyed me suspiciously.

 _That wasn't all true, was it?_ He thought to me. I shook my head when Arthur turned away, deep in thought.

 _I will tell you the full truth later. I wasn't sure if I should tell him everything I knew. It may involve magic._ I replied back to him telepathically.

 _Smart._ At that word, Arthur faced the two of us again, oblivious to the exchanged words between us. He directed his question to Merlin, "Why was that the only village attacked?"

Merlin clenched his jaw but then decided to let Arthur know a bit of information that he knew to settle the king's questions. He said, "There were several of Morgana's men dead around the rubble. Maybe she saw them expendable?"

"Why would she just kill her men?"

"I don't know, sire," Merlin said, defeated. One of the knights-who had inhumanly large biceps-broke from the training that had been continued in Arthur's absence and called to the king. Arthur yelled back, and was somewhat frustrated that the conversation hadn't given him any enlightenment on Morgana's plans.

"I still have some questions. Would it bother you if you followed me as I asked them?"

It somewhat did, but I couldn't say that. "Not at all," I replied, then we walked across the field to join the group. Merlin followed next to me and was sort of my anchor to the world. It was overwhelming being in this environment, and he was probably the only one that understood.

The knights gathered in a circle and began to spar with each other, the sounds of metal hitting metal filling the air. Walking around the groups, I noticed several of them had awful footing. I expected Arthur to correct them, but he didn't notice. He was still preoccupied, wondering Morgana's plans and intentions.

Two men began sparring and all of the others stopped to watch. They jeered and joked and formed a circle as the two circled each other, smiling. The shorter one, I heard addressed as Gwaine, had his feet too close together in an arrogant manner, confident in his victory. The other knight-who had called Arthur over earlier-was named Percival, if I heard correctly. He had a proper fighting stance and was ready for the shorter one to attack.

Both men looked to Arthur, who nodded with a smirk, and then Gwaine stepped forward, lifting up his back heel and went to strike Percival. I cringed seeing an easy moment for the larger one to knock him over, and he saw the same thing I had noticed a moment before. Percival knocked him onto his face, before Gwaine had a chance to attack. Percival stepped away laughing and the knights all cheered, leaving Gwaine at the feet of both Merlin and I. He looked up, noticing me for the first time and smirked, prompting me to give him a well deserved eye roll. Merlin was among those laughing at him.

Gwaine immediately clambered up and clasped Merlin's shoulder. Then he breathlessly asked him, "Who's your friend?"

"No, Gwaine," Merlin said a bit defensively on my behalf. I appreciated it, but I could speak for myself.

"Do you know why you fell so easily?" I asked with a smirk. He looked at me quizzically but then considered my question.

"Why?" He asked, toning his smirk down a bit.

"Your stance is way off, mate," I said, not noticing the other knights beginning to pay attention to me and my conversation with Gwaine. I did notice Merlin's expression, which I couldn't label as anything other than admiration or respect. "You put too much of your weight forward and it made it really easy to knock you off balance."

Gwaine just looked at me but then frowned in approval. Then he offered his hand out to me.

"Gwaine," he said. I shook his hand.

"Catherine Frey," I returned. Arthur choked and spit out the water he had been drinking while several of the knights looked to me in confusion.

"Frey?" Arthur asked in amazement. "Did your father happen to be Edward Frey?"

My blood ran cold at the question but I asked, "How could you possibly know that?"

"He's a well-known knight, Catherine."


End file.
